Swallow Falls State Park (Swallow Falls & Tolivar Falls) - Oakland, MD

Been overdue again on updates. Sorry for the long layoff. The excuse I have is I have spent a lot of time the past few weeks being out and about taking pictures and video. I have tons of posts to make from all of it as well as several videos to make for upload on my Youtube channel. With the weather pretty much turning to winter now - I should have a fair amount of indoor time to accomplish all of this. I will really only be able to share a small portion of what I captured because I took so many photos and videos in an attempt to capture it all for you. These photos were taken the same day as I took the Muddy Creek Falls photos (previous post). All are within Swallow Falls State Park. The larger falls shown here are actually the namesake of the park. The 3rd and final (and smallest) of the 3 water falls (Tolivar Falls) are in the final picture here. As always I hope you enjoy what I share with you.

Swallow Falls State Park is located near Oakland, MD along the Youghiogheny River Valley. The park elevation (at Muddy Creek Falls) is 2382 feet. By far this area is one of the most scenic parts of our wonderful State of Maryland. Pictures and video simply do not do justice to the beauty of this area. Part of an original parcel of 1,917 acres - Swallow Falls State Park was developed in the 1930's. The original total parcel (Known as Garrett State Forest) was donated in 1906. Swallow Falls and Herrington Manor (to be shown in a later post) were 2 State Parks developed from Garrett State Forest. If ever in the Baltimore, Washington DC, or Pittsburgh, PA areas it is worth the 2-3 hour drive to see in person.

One cool fact is that the stand of Hemlock trees in the area contains many trees thought to be in excess of 300 years of age. Having seen them in person they are impressive to say the least. This group of Hemlock trees is among the last of it's kind in the area. The climate is ideal for them. Thanks as always for checking out my page. My next post will be on Herrington Manor State Park. Just down the road (literally) from here about 3-4 miles.